ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Election Commission
ECI organises 2 weeks capacity building course for officers of National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone
A seven member delegation from National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone  led by Director, External Relations of NEC SL Mr. Albert Massaquoi called on the Chief Election Commissioner of India Shri Sushil Chandra at Nirvachan Sadan today. The officials from NEC SL are undergoing a capacity building training course being held at India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management , the training institute established under the aegis of ECI.
Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Sushil Chandra during his interaction with the delegation emphasised the usefulness of such capacity building courses providing an opportunity for exchange of best practises and learnings from each other's experiences and challenges faced. CEC assured that ECI would extend all possible support to the National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone for their request of IT infrastructure and development of e-learning portal for exchange of ideas and training of officials.
During their two weeks training course on various aspects of election management, the officials have undergone training on ICT Applications related to Voter Registration, Election Results Management, Grievance Redressal, Data Analytics & Management. As part of the training program, the officials have also been attached for a 3 days IT Applications and Cyber Security hands-on experience at ECI. The officials also visited a Voter Registration Centre at Agra and NIC Data Centre at Delhi as part of field visits. This training module was planned after a series of meetings and a Training Need Analysis  workshop conducted for the election officials of NEC, Sierra Leone.
Ministry of Home Affairs
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah congratulates the team of National Automated Fingerprint Identification System  for winning the Gold Award under the Excellence in Government Process Reengineering for Digital Transformation Category-1, of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances 
This award for excellence in delivering e-governance is a recognition of the dedication the entire NAFIS team has put into creating a fool-proof fingerprint identification system, in pursuit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of a secure India
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs has provided NAFIS devices to all Districts, Police Commissionerates, Central and State Fingerprint Bureaus and Central agencies like NIA, CBI and NCB
NAFIS has revolutionized the fingerprint recognition system in crime control, With this system, the work of tracing the involvement of interstate criminals in crimes is being done with greater ease, accuracy and efficiency across the country
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah congratulated the team of National Automated Fingerprint Identification System  of NCRB for winning the Gold Award under the Excellence in Government Process Reengineering for Digital Transformation Category-1 of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances .
In his tweet, Shri Amit Shah said that this award for excellence in delivering e-governance is a recognition of the dedication the entire NAFIS team has put into creating a fool-proof fingerprint identification system, in pursuit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of a secure India
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs has provided NAFIS devices to all Districts, Police Commissionerates, Central and State Fingerprint Bureaus and Central agencies like NIA, CBI and NCB. NAFIS has revolutionized the fingerprint recognition system in crime control. With this system, the work of tracing the involvement of interstate criminals in crimes is being done with greater ease, accuracy and efficiency across the country.
NAFIS has created a central database of fingerprints of criminals, which can be accessed by users from all States, Union Territories and Central Agencies. This has resulted in a qualitative improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal detection and investigation process.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Lecture by Smt Sumitra Mahajan, Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha
The 27th lecture of the “Lecture Series” organized by the Commission was delivered by Smt Sumitra Mahajan, Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha here today on the topic “My Experiences as a Representative of People”.
The distinguished speaker spoke about the need for society to introspect and look within itself in order to change attitudes towards corruption, and to further the positive ideal of ethical conduct. Her address drew inspiration from India’s traditional ideals in this regard and she discussed a wide range of issues using examples from traditional Indian spiritual thought as well as from her experiences as a representative of the public. She opined that society must look inwards at itself for inspiration in order to promote good conduct, both in the public as well as private spheres of life. The importance of prevention as being more effective than punishment was emphasized in her lecture. She also spoke of the need to examine instances of spending more than known sources of income in order to detect corruption.
The audience was told of many interesting instances of her experiences as a public representative, which served to highlight the need for society to introspect upon the decline in ethical values and the need to promote integrity in public life. The duties and responsibilities of a public representative were also explained using many examples from her interactions with people from all walks of life. She felt that we ourselves are collectively responsible for this social change and we must draw inspiration from our own culture and ideals in order to do so.
Her initiatives towards setting up the Speakers Research Initiative in Parliament and the importance to training for members of Parliament were also discussed during the course of the lecture. The lecture was followed by a lively question and answer session.
Invited dignitaries from the Government of India, CMDs , Directors and senior executives of Central Public Sector Enterprises and full time and part time CVOs based in Delhi/NCR attended the lecture along with and other officers of the vigilance administration. The lecture was available for online viewing as it was webcast live through NIC. The link to the recorded webcast is available on the Commission’s website www.cvc.nic.in.
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
Estimates of Gross Domestic Product for the Second Quarter  of 2021-22
The National Statistical Office , Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is releasing the estimates of Gross Domestic Product  for the second quarter  of 2021-22 , both at Constant  and Current Prices, along with the corresponding quarterly estimates of expenditure components of the GDP in this press note.
2. GDP at Constant  Prices in Q2 2021-22 is estimated at ₹35.73 lakh crore, as against ₹32.97 lakh crore in Q2 2020-21, showing a growth of 8.4 percent as compared to 7.4 percent contraction in Q2 2020-21. Quarterly GVA at Basic Prices at Constant  Prices in Q2 2021-22 is estimated at ₹32.89 lakh crore, as against ₹30.32 lakh crore in Q2 2020-21, showing a growth of 8.5 percent.
3. GDP at Current Prices in Q2 2021-22 is estimated at ₹55.54 lakh crore, as against ₹47.26 lakh crore in Q2 2020-21, showing a growth of 17.5 percent as compared to 4.4 percent contraction in Q2 2020-21. GVA at Basic Prices at Current Prices in Q2 2021-22 is estimated at ₹49.70 lakh crore, as against ₹42.54 lakh crore in Q2 2020-21, showing a growth of 16.8 percent.
4. GDP at Constant  Prices in April-September 2021-22  is estimated at ₹68.11 lakh crore as against ₹59.92 lakh crores during the corresponding period of previous year, showing a growth of 13.7 percent in H1 2021-22 as against contraction of 15.9 percent during the same period last year. GDP at Current Prices in H1 2021-22 is estimated at ₹106.77 lakh crore as against ₹86.15 lakh crores during the corresponding period of previous year, showing a growth of 23.9 percent in H1 2021-22 as against contraction of 13.4 percent during the same period last year.
5. Estimates of GDP along with GVA at Basic Prices by kind of economic activity, Expenditure Components of GDP at Constant  and Current Prices for Q2 2019-20 to 2021-22 and H1 2019-20 to 2021-22 are given in Statements 1 to 8.
6. The Q2 2021-22 estimates are based on First Advance Estimates of agricultural production during Kharif season of 2021-22 obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare; estimates of production of major livestock products viz, Milk, Egg, Meat and Wool obtained from the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Fish production data obtained from the Department of Fisheries. Index of Industrial Production , monthly accounts of Union Government maintained by Controller General of Accounts  and of State Government maintained by Comptroller and Auditor General of India  have also been used. Besides, performance of key sectors like Transport including Railways, Road, Air and Water Transport, Communication, Banking and Insurance during the period July-September 2021-22 and the performance of corporate sector during the same period based on data received from BSE/NSE have also been taken into account while compiling the estimates. Performance of the main indicators used in the estimation is given in Annexure – I.
7. The next release of quarterly GDP estimates for the third quarter  of 2021-22  will be on 28.02.2021.
Prime Minister's Office
PM Modi Launches CHAMPIONS: Technology Platform to empower MSMEs
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today launched the technology platform CHAMPIONS which stands for Creation and Harmonious Application of Modern Processes for Increasing the Output and National Strength.
As the name suggests,the portal is basically for making the smaller units big by solving their grievances, encouraging, supporting, helping and handholding.It is a real one-stop-shop solution of MSME Ministry.
This ICT based system is set up to help the MSMEs in present difficult situation and also to handhold them to become national and international champions.
Detailed objectives of CHAMPIONS:
- Grievance Redressal: To resolve the problems of MSMEs including those of finance, raw materials, labor, regulatory permissions etc particularly in the Covid created difficult situation;
- To help them capture new opportunities: including manufacturing of medical equipments and accessories like PPEs, masks, etc and supply them in National and International markets;
- To identify and encourage the sparks: i.e. the potential MSMEs who are able to withstand the current situation and can become national and international champions.
It is a technology packed control room-cum-management information system. In addition to ICT tools including telephone, internet and video conference, the system is enabled by Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Machine Learning. It is also fully integrated on real time basis with GOI’s main grievances portal CPGRAMS and MSME Ministry’s own other web based mechanisms.The entire ICT architecture is created in house with the help of NIC in no cost. Similarly, the physical infrastructure is created in one of ministry’s dumping rooms in a record time.
As part of the system a network of control rooms is created in a Hub & Spoke Model. The Hub is situated in New Delhi in the Secretary MSME’s office. The spokes are in the States in various offices and institutions of MSME Ministry. As of now, 66 state level control rooms are createdand made functional. They are connected through video conference also in addition to the portal of Champions. A detailed standard operating procedure  has been issue to the officers and staff have been deployed and training has been conducted for them.
On this occasion, Minister of MSME and Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadakari was also present.
Special Service and Features
Applications invited for PTC in Akashavani
The Regional News Unit of Akashavani, Thiruvananthapuram, invited applications for Part-time Correspondent  Thiruvananthapuram district. Those residing in Thiruvananthapuram district headquarters or within 10 kms radius from the district headquarters, are eligible to apply. For further details, please visit https://prasarbharati.gov.in/pbvacancies/. The last date for receipt of application is 10th July 2023. For more details contact: 0471-2324983 from Monday to Friday between 10 am and 5 pm.
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Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
40 day overseas coaching camp sanctioned for Vinesh Phogat in Hungary and Poland under TOPS
The Government through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme  has sanctioned a 40 day training camp for wrestler Vinesh Phogat along with her personal coach Woller Akos, her sparring partner Priyanka Phogat and her physiotherapist Poornima Raman Ngomdir. The camp will take place from December 28, 2020 to January 24, 2021 at the Vasas Sports Club in Budapest, Hungary and from January 24 to February 5, 2021 at the Olympic Training Centre in Szczryk in Poland, and will be conducted at a total approximate cost of Rs. 15.51 Lakhs and includes airfare, local transportation, boarding and lodging charges and out of pocket allowance. Phogat is a part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme.
The training camp has been planned by Phogat’s personal coach Woller Akos, with this camp giving her the opportunity to spar with many European wrestlers in her weight category and improving on her technical and tactical aspects.
Phogat is looking forward to the overseas training camp, saying, “As a wrestler I need to know my level and getting to spar with good wrestlers will be very helpful in assessing where I stand.”
Phogat has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for July-August 2021 in the women’s 53 kg event after winning the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships. Phogat was a part of the national camp for women’s wrestlers that commenced in SAI Lucknow from October 2020. Her last competitive appearance before the coronavirus lockdown was the Asian Senior Championships in February held in New Delhi where she won a bronze medal.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
National Museum of Natural History takes the message of Mission LiFE to the youth of the country
Over 4400 students and general public sensitized to lead a sustainable lifestyle in the spirit of Mission LiFE
Green Talk & Green Pledge organized at Bhopal and Mysore by regional branches of NMNH
National Museum of Natural History , a subordinate office of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change , organized Mission LiFE  awareness programme for youth to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda at Dyal Singh College, New Delhi. On this occasion an interactive talk was delivered by Dr Dheeraj Mittal, Assistant Inspector General of Forests, MoEFCC and a Nukad Natak was performed by the college students on Mission LiFE in which 852 students and faculty members participated.
Mission LiFE awareness programme at Dyal Singh College, New Delhi
Regional Museum of Natural History , Bhopal, a branch of National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi, organized Green Talk, Green Pledge, pamphlet distribution and video presentation through kiosk to create awareness on LiFE: Lifestyle For Environment under #LiFEMission, #ChooseLiFE for 2139 beneficiaries  on 12th January, 2023 and on the 13th January, 2023, awareness campaign was conducted for another 1011 beneficiaries 
Mission LiFE awareness programme organised by RMNH, Bhopal
Mission LiFE awareness programme organised by RMNH, Bhopal
Regional Museum of Natural History, Mysore, another branch of NMNH, New Delhi organised awareness programme on #Save_ Energy_LiFE_Misson_Lifestyle_for_Environment today where 415 School students and general public eagerly took part in Green Pledge and Mission LiFE awareness session.
Mission LiFE awareness programme organised by RMNH, Mysore.
Cabinet
Cabinet approves Scheme to Rebate State and Central Embedded Taxes to Support the Textile Sector
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Scheme to Rebate State and Central Embedded Taxes to Support the Textile Sector. This will enable the Government to take various measures for making exports of apparel and made-ups zero rated.
Details:
At present, apparel and made-ups segments are supported under the Scheme for Rebate of State Levies . However, certain State as well as Central Taxes continued to be present in the cost of exports. The Cabinet decision provides for a scheme to rebate all embedded State and Central Taxes/levies for apparel and made-ups which have a combined share of around 56% in India’s textile export basket. Rebate of taxes/levies has been permitted through an IT-driven scrip system at notified rates.
Benefits:
The proposed measures are expected to make the textile sector competitive. Rebate of all Embedded State and Central taxes/levies for apparel and made-ups segments would make exports zero-rated, thereby boosting India’s competitiveness in export markets and ensure equitable and inclusive growth of textile and apparel sector.
Ministry of Defence
COVID-19 Cases in Defence Services
The number of COVID-19 cases in Army, Navy and Air Force are 16758, 1365 and 1716 respectively.
The number of deceased due to COVID-19 in Army and Air Force are 32 and 03 respectively and ‘NIL’ in case of Navy.
As per the extant Rules, there is no special compensation for deaths occurring due to infectious diseases while in service. However, all deaths while in service are awarded terminal benefits.
This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik in a written reply to Shri Anumula Revanth Reddy in Lok Sabha today.
ABB/Nampi/KA/DK
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Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs 
Cabinet approves Methodology for allowing the allocate of coal mines for specified end use or own consumption to sell 25% of actual production on ROM basis in open market under the Coal Mines  Act, 2015 and the Mines and Minerals  Act, 1957
Flexibility to the prospective bidders/allottees of coal mines for specified end use or own consumption
To increase competitiveness and to make the future tranches of auction/allotment attractive and commercially viable leading to higher revenues for the Government
To address the issue of lack of response from bidders during earlier traches of auction/allotments
Higher investment will create direct and indirect employment
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the methodology for allowing the allocatee of coal mines for specified end use or own consumption to sell 25% of actual production on ROM basis in open market with payment of additional premium on such sale under the Coal Mines  Act, 2015 and the Mines and Minerals  Act, 1957.
This new methodology provides that, in case of coal mines earmarked for specified end uses or own consumption, the allocatees are mandated to utilize a minimum of 75% of its actual production  in specified end use plants and are allowed to sell upto 25% in open market. In case of auctions, the successful bidder shall be required to pay an additional premium of 15% of its final bid price on per tonne basis, for the actual quantity of coal sold in open market. The additional premium will be over and above the final bid price. In case of allotments, the successful allotee shall be required to pay an additional reserve price of 15% of the Reserve Price, for the actual quantity of coal sold in open market. The additional reserve price will be over and above the Reserve Price.
This methodology attempts to address the issue of lack of response from the bidders during the earlier tranches of auction/allotment under the Coal Mines  Act, 2015.
The methodology will give certain flexibility to allocattee in cases of change in economic situation, business cycle, End Use Plant requirement etc.
It is expected to make the on-going and future tranches of auction and allotment attractive and commercially viable and may increase the competition in the auction process.
It is also expected to increase competitiveness and tine higher investment should create direct and indirect employment in coal bearing areas especially in mining sector and will have an impact on economic development of these regions.
Background:
Presently, the allocatee of coal mines for specified end use or own consumption are not permitted to sell coal in open market. As per existing conditions, any coal which is extracted in excess of the requirement of the Bidder in terms of conditions of Tender Document is required to be supplied to CIL at the CIL Notified Price less 15 percent of such CIL Notified Price . Also such sale should not exceed 50% of the annual coal production from the mine.
Prime Minister's Office
PM shares Union Minister, Shri Piyush Goyal’s article on GeM portal
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has shared an article written by Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal on impact of Government e Marketplace  platform in various departments.
In reply to the tweet by Union Minister, the Prime Minister Office tweeted;
“Union Minister Shri @PiyushGoyal elaborates how @GeM_India platform led to savings by departments and encouraged transparency as well as fair competition for vendors.”
Ministry of Finance
TECHNOLOGY TAKES CENTRE-STAGE IN HEALTH BUDGET
NEW OPEN PLATFORM FOR ‘NATIONAL DIGITAL HEALTH ECOSYSTEM’ ANNOUNCED AS PART OF AYUSHMAN BHARAT DIGITAL MISSION, ANOTHER KEY STEP TOWARDS “DIGITAL INDIA”
NATIONAL TELE MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMME, A NETWORK OF 23 TELE-MENTAL HEALTH CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE, TO BE ROLLED OUT
Technology has taken a centre-stage for the Health Sector in the General Budget presented in the Parliament by Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Finance. Two new digitally underpinned Schemes have been announced which indicate the key role that digital technology is playing in expanding the access of health and medical care across the country.
The imprint of the COVID-19 pandemic is reflected in the announcements make today. The Union Finance Minister at the outset, expressed empathy for those who had to bear adverse health and economic effects of the pandemic. She emphasized that the country is in a strong position to withstand challenges due to the accelerated improvement of health infrastructure in the past two years. In her Budget speech, she acknowledged that the speed and coverage of our vaccination campaign has helped greatly to fight the pandemic. “I am confident that with Sabka Prayas we will continue our journey of strong growth” the Finance Minister said.
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that the initiatives of the last year’s Budget have seen significant progress and have been provided with adequate allocations in this Budget as well. The strengthening of health infrastructure, speedy implementation of the vaccination programme, and the nation-wide resilient response to the current wave of the pandemic, are evident for all, she noted.
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
A new open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out. It will comprehensively consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity, consent framework, and shall provide universal access to health facilities.
National Tele Mental Health Programme
The Union Finance Minister acknowledged that the pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. In order to provide better access to quality mental health counselling and care services, a ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ has been announced today. This will include a network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence, with NIMHANS being the nodal centre. The International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore  will provide technology support.